Section: Biotechnologies in food processing and in food safety

Agricultural biotechnologies in developing countries: Options and opportunities in crops, forestry, livestock, fisheries and agro-industry to face the challenges of food insecurity and climate change (ABDC-10)

Fermentative processes using endogenous microorganisms in the Dominican Republic

Dra. Bernarda CastilloDra. Bernarda CastilloExecutiveExecutive DirectorDirector

InstituteInstitute forfor InnovationInnovation in in BiotechnologyBiotechnology andand IndustryIndustry (IIBI)(IIBI)

• IIBI is the main public Research and Development Institute in the Dominican Republic.

• It was established five years ago with a specific mandate to promote science, technology and innovation in fields pertinent to industrial development, with a special emphasys on biotechnologies.

Industrial biotech

• One of the main research divisions within IIBI is the Industrial Biotechnology unit.

• Its focus is the development of innovative bioprocesses and the transference of its results to small and medium sized enterprises.

Its activities include customized industrial research, technology development and transfer, training, specialized consultancy, etc.

• This Unit has developped an interesting catalog of products ranging from beverages and processed vegetables products and by products, to natural pigments, oils and essences, enzymes and probiotics, among others.

Mabí

• One of these products is the fermented refreshing beverage called Mabí, a very popular typical drink in the Dominican Republic.

• The name “Mabí” comes from the extint Taíno culture. Taínos were the original indigenous inhabitants of what is now the Dominican Republic.

• Mabí is produced from the fermentation of stem sections of a local vine called Bejuco de Indio (Goiania lupuloides).

• Our Industrial Biotechnology Unit started a project aimed to identify the biological particularities of the Mabí production.

• As a direct result of this project, we isolated and identifyed a new, non reported strain of yeast (Wickerhamomyces anomalus), with special characteristics in the fermentative process for Mabí production.

• We conducted all types on analyses (in the Dominican Republic and abroad) and determined that we had identifyed a new strain with particular biochemical properties, rendering a Mabí with superior organoleptic properties.

• In order to protect these developments, the National Office for Intellectual Property in the Dominican Republic (ONAPI) granted IIBI a patent covering the biotechnological process utilizing our new strain, in the production of Mabí.

• Samples of our strain have been characterized and deposited in the Centraalbureau Voor Schimmelcultures (SMS), in the Netherlands, to be properly kept and preserved.

• Right now, this strain is being used (under a contract) by a local beverages production company, to produce Mabí under the brand “Bejuking”.

• For us, this has been a success story, where a product of our research activities has led to a new patent and its used to produce a widely consumed product in our country and abroad (i.e. consumed by Dominican migrants in the USA).

¡Thank you very much!